Recchia lights up Paris Open with stunning gold on successful final day for hosts France

Objava: 24.01.2016 | 22:50
Karate 1 – Premier League

France’s Alexandra Recchia lit up the final day of the opening World Karate Federation (WKF) Karate1 Premier League event here as she successfully defended her women’s under 50 kilograms kumite Paris Open crown with a whitewash victory over Silvia Sassano of Italy.

Recchia, world champion in 2012, signalled her intention from the outset by landing an early blow and she continually built on that momentum to emerge with an 8-0 win against a beleaguered Sassano.

The home favourite had dumped current world champion Serap Oczelik out of the competition in yesterday’s elimination matches, meaning the Turkish karateka had to settle for bronze.

The other third place finisher in the category was Khawla Ouhammad of Morocco.

It proved to be a fruitful day for the hosts as the French team harnessed the energy inside the arena to secure a haul of three gold medals.

Anne-Laure Florentin was the other individual victor for the nation as she secured the women’s over 68kg title by the narrowest of margins, claiming gold thanks to the judges verdict after her fiercely-contested clash with Buse Musecessem Avcu of Turkey had finished 1-1 after the regulation two-minute period.

France’s other triumph was won by default as their kata team were awarded the victory after one member of the German trio, who were due to face them in the final, withdrew through injury prior to the gold medal contest.

Turkey’s Enes Erkan (red) justified his status as world champion by winning the men’s over 84kg category

Elsewhere, American Thomas Scott bettered his performance from last year’s Paris Open, where he finished third, as he scored two points late on to wrap up a thrilling 8-7 triumph over Italy’s Luigi Busa in the men’s under 75kg category.

His historic success gave the United States their first karate gold medal for 16 years.

Reda Massaoudi added another Moroccan medal to the tally with bronze, while the other was given to France’s Logan Da Costa.

Ihor Uhnich of Ukraine also left it late as he was able to score three in the dying embers of his under 60kg gold medal clash with Firdovsi Farzaliyev of Azerbaijan on his way to an action packed 6-3 victory.

Angelo Crescenzo of Italy and Saudi Arabia’s Emad Almalki both took home bronze.

After so many of the leading contenders had exited the competition yesterday, Turkey’s men’s over 84kg world champion Enes Erkan was one of the few to live up to his billing as he beat Azerbaijan’s Shahin Atamov to gold.

France’s Lonni Boulesnane and Salim Bendiab rounded off the podium by ending the competition in third.

Merve Coban continued the Turkish success as she overcame home favourite Lolita Dona 3-0 in the women’s under 61kg category to clinch her maiden Paris Open crown, with Ecuadorian Jacqueline Factos and Leila Heurtault of France both finishing in third place.

Greece’s Vassiliki Panetsidou sealed the women’s under 68kg honours with a 2-0 win against Elena Quirci of Switzerland.

Reigning world champion Alizee Agier could only manage bronze and she was joined on the podium by Marina Rakovic of Montenegro.

Spain’s solitary gold came by virtue of Cristina Ferrer Garcia in the women’s under 55kg discipline, who needed the judges verdict to beat Ukrainian Anzhelika Terluyga, and France were able to enhance their medal tally as Andrea Brito and Maeva Samy won bronze.

Saeid Ahmadikaryani hammered Marvin Garin of France 3-0 in the men’s under 67kg weight class in a bout that was delayed while the home karateka received extensive treatment.

An action packed day of kumite and kata finals brought the Paris Open to a close

Hiroto Shinohara picked up another Japanese medal with bronze, while Turkey’s Burak Uygur also ended the competition in the French capital on a positive note.

Japan bagged a hat-trick of golds to round off the event in style as Japanese world kata champions Kiyou Shimizu and Ryo Kiyuna both performed superbly in their respective finals to reign supreme once again.

The gold medal matches were all-Japanese affairs as Shimizu beat Emiri Iwamoto in the women’s final before Kiyuna got the better of Issei Shimbaba as both were crowned Paris Open champions with 5-0 victories.

Their other title came thanks to Ryutaro Araga, who ousted Zabiollah Poorshab of Iran 1-0 in a forgettable men’s under 84kg final.

The bronze medals on offer in the category went to Turkey’s Gokhan Gunduz and Georgios Tzanos of Belgium.

Italy took team kata gold as their routine was given the nod over that of the French, whose other team also earned bronze along with Slovakia.